Portland Ranks Low for Driver Safety

No one likes to believe that he or she is a bad driver. So it has to come as a surprise to many of us here in Portland that collectively we are some of the most collision-prone drivers in the country, according to a study by the Allstate Insurance Company recently analyzed by The Oregonian.

According to the newspaper “claims filed with the company found Portlanders are involved in a collision on average every 6.9 years – about 45 percent more than the national average of 10 years.” The paper adds: “That puts Portland squarely in the hall of shame, with a rank of 183 out of the 200 largest US cities.”

To make matters worse: “As recently as 2006, Portland stacked up reasonably… well, ranking at No. 89 on the list of 200 cities.” The newspaper adds that the news is a bit better for the metro area as a whole. Vancouver’s rating, while still below the national average, is significantly better than Portland’s with crashes coming, on average, every 8.8 years. Eugene, where drivers average 10.3 years between collisions, ranked No. 26 in the study.

The Oregonian notes that Allstate’s data do not offer a reason for Portland’s significant and steady decline over the last nine years. As any reader of this blog knows, however, Oregon car accidents are a significant problem throughout the greater Portland area. Over the years I have used this space to track the growing problem of distracted driving as well as the on-going struggles of drivers to share the road with bike riders, even in this most bike-friendly of American cities. The well-documented series of accidents over the last few years involving Tri-Met cannot have helped the city’s overall rating.